Who wants even MORE FREE EBOOKS and resources this year? If so, you’ve come to the right place as I’m once again kicking off my annual FREEMICROSOFT EBOOK GIVEAWAY extravaganza!

If you have been a follower of mine in the past, you know that several years ago I tried a simple concept: Let’s try giving away a bunch of free eBooks, reference guides, Step-By-Step Guides, and other informational resources to our customers and partners around the world. Needless to say, the concept was extremely the first year (over 1,000,000 FREE eBooks downloaded), and it has grown and grown over the past few years (over 3.5 Million downloaded two years ago and we surpassed that last year!) So, haw many FREE eBooks can we give away this year? Well, that’s completely up to you.

Before we get to this year’s list of FREE eBooks, a few answers to common questions I receive during my FREE EBOOK GIVEAWAY:

How many can you download?

ANSWER: As many as you want! This is a FREE eBook giveaway, so please download as many as interest you.

Wow, there are a LOT listed here. Is there a way to download all of them at once?

ANSWER: Yes, please see the note below on how to do this.

Can I share a link to your post to let others know about this giveaway?

ANSWER: Yes, please do share the good news with anyone you feel could benefit from this.

I know you said they are “Free,” but what’s the catch?

ANSWER: There is no catch. They really are FREE. This consider it a, “Thank you,” for being a reader of my blog and a customer or partner of Microsoft.

Ok, so if they are free and you’re encouraging us to share this with others, can I post a link to your post here on sites like Reddit, FatWallet, and other deal share sites to let them know, or is that asking too much?

ANSWER: Please do. In fact, I would encourage you to share a link to this post on any deal site you feel their users could benefit from the FREE eBooks and resources included below. Again, I WANT to give away MILLIONS of FREE eBooks!

Are these “time-bombed” versions of the eBooks that stop working after a certain amount of time or reads?

ANSWER: No, these are the full resources for you to use.

Ok, ready for some FREE eBooks? Below is the collection I am posting this year (which includes a ton of new eBooks & resources, as well as some of the favorites from last year):

– How to enable “Download All” for the list of FREE eBooks below and other FAQs

Why did you go to great lengths to make this page look like some sort of cheap advertising site? Is there a joke here that I’m not seeing? Why make your site look like you are hawking some sort of crème to restore hair, increase your virility, or make one smarter?

The books, if properly used, can indeed make one smarter, but come on, man, think design! 🙂

If you look in the FAQ I posted under the “Download All” post, one of the things I pointed out is that I intentionally do not post a ZIP file or single file download (such as on Docs.com) for the eBooks because I always ensure I honor the original publisher’s rights to modify, update, edit, and/or remove their works that they have graciously shared with us. By me pointing directly to the eBooks themselves, if a publisher wants to correct an error in their eBook, append additional data, release an updated version etc., they can do so and re-publish, and my links will then surface the most up-to-date version of their works. If I were to publish a ZIP file or mirror of the eBooks somewhere, then the author’s would lose their ability to update their works, and that does not honor the rights of the publisher to update their works as they see fit. As such, I will always provide the links to download the original works and have advised those who ask if they can share my links with others that sharing the links are fine, but sharing the eBook files themselves should not be done (as that would remove the publisher’s rights to update their works).

I get a kick out of how in college we would have dreaded having to read many of these books. But now that the knowledge therein results in more revenue yo us, people can’t wait to download hundreds of books.

Might be ‘Introducing Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview’, but from what I see, the pdf’s are called different than ‘Windowstechnicalpreviewgq.pdf’ – might be part of a Ebook bundle, which could explain why it’s not in the Ebooks list on this site.

I have an idea.
In the past (in the VB6 age), Microsoft used to make documentation as CHM. (indexed and searchable content)
It was very good. Easy to copy & paste. Easy to browser and search.
I think CHM is much better than PDF. If Microsoft will generated these documentation (and other) as CHM, will be perfect.

Eric, thank you so much. I am a Professor teaching in IT at a Community College. Can I download these ebooks and then share them with my students? Or can I only direct them to your website. Having found many links to Microsoft blogs where employees are sharing ebooks, they tend not to last very long, and if I assign the books to my students, and then they are not available… it just doesn’t work.

Thanks a ton for sharing these Ebooks. Certainly this will help me and my fellow colleagues to widen their knowledge base. The books on SharePoint and SQL Server are just amazing.
Looking forward to some material focussing on programming standards in Visual Studio 2015 and SharePoint 2016 Best Business Practices.

This being a Microsoft site, I can’t get my head around the fact there’s no way to sort or filter this list, no description of contents (2-pages fact sheets are dumped together with 200-pages books), and file extensions are missing, so you have to guess/remember/add them manually. Incidentally, some of those books are available in the free section of Microsoft’s e-book store, where those drawbacks don’t apply.

Dear Mr. Eric Ligman:
Will there be publications that have been published in Spanish?
The Latino public is a very nice community that also uses these programs and would like to have reliable information about how to get the most benefit from the correct use of those programs.
Thanks for youir prompt response.
Best regards
Pedro Saturno G.